Manuscript 2 Print. Living tradition in Ethiopia.
This film pays homage to Tesfa Gabre Selassie and his scholar printer Memhar Saifa. Their impact on the transmission of the literature Ethiopian Orthodox Twahedo Church into the 20th and 21st century is, to my mind second to none. They are responsible for the production of the popular versions that are in use in the Church today; shifting from manuscript versions to a standard printed version. They are also responsible for the translation of much of the church literature from Ge’ez (Old Ethiopic) to Amharic, making its content available to all. I owe thanks to the three children of Tesfa Gabre Selassie, Endalkatchew, Tebabu and Konjeet for their kind hospitality and patience with me on my visits to their printing press and the many questions I have asked and have yet to ask. I also want to thank Gabre Selassie, Adelalu and my daughter Shiphra for help with camera work, Joachim Persoon who taught me so much and offered hospitality and friendship, the Ethiopian Embassy staff for their help and encouragement, and the British Library for inviting me to show this film in their series of talks. Thanks also goes to The Gerda Henkel Foundation who supported the research that inspired this film. Finally, I thank my greatest inspiration, my angel and wife, Michaela. The manuscript is an object of reverence. It is the container and conveyer of text and image. It is a testament to the generations of people who created, recreated, reproduced and used these texts and images. We must not forget that while the manuscripts are astonishingly beautiful objects, finely crafted, illustrated with great artistic skill, and containing narratives that have been shaped by living communities over centuries. Some might look at the origins with special interest and admiration, but those origins are but a part of the genetic make-up of what is an evolutionary whole that stretches from origins (whatever these are) to current living and practising communities; each generation leaving its mark. The advent of print has a special significance: The first is what most people see, the disappearance of the manuscript, with the rapid loss of the ability to make it. The second, less obvious, is the standardisation of the text. The manuscript tradition is fluid – the text is not quite fixed. This is strange to us now who are used to text being fixed to single authorship, an, in turn, authorship rights. But, we too, were cultures and civilisations that were once textually fluid. It is with considerable reverence that we look back at the scholarly printers who collated manuscripts and produced the standard versions we still use today. The 16th century Bomberg edition of the Talmud is an example; as is the Tyndale Bible for that matter. Here I want to introduce you to THE printer and his scholar. Anonymous in the revolution they have been bringing about. Printer and traditional scholar at ease in and equally part of the manuscript culture, as they are the link to a world for ever transformed. Not a missing link- but, for sure, an invisible one. I hope to take you on a little journey that is as much about sensation as it is about knowledge.
This film pays homage to Tesfa Gabre Selassie and his scholar printer Memhar Saifa. Their impact on the transmission of the literature Ethiopian Orthodox Twahedo Church into the 20th and 21st century is, to my mind second to none. They are responsible for the production of the popular versions that are in use in the Church today; shifting from manuscript versions to a standard printed version. They are also responsible for the translation of much of the church literature from Ge’ez (Old Ethiopic) to Amharic, making its content available to all. I owe thanks to the three children of Tesfa Gabre Selassie, Endalkatchew, Tebabu and Konjeet for their kind hospitality and patience with me on my visits to their printing press and the many questions I have asked and have yet to ask. I also want to thank Gabre Selassie, Adelalu and my daughter Shiphra for help with camera work, Joachim Persoon who taught me so much and offered hospitality and friendship, the Ethiopian Embassy staff for their help and encouragement, and the British Library for inviting me to show this film in their series of talks. Thanks also goes to The Gerda Henkel Foundation who supported the research that inspired this film. Finally, I thank my greatest inspiration, my angel and wife, Michaela. The manuscript is an object of reverence. It is the container and conveyer of text and image. It is a testament to the generations of people who created, recreated, reproduced and used these texts and images. We must not forget that while the manuscripts are astonishingly beautiful objects, finely crafted, illustrated with great artistic skill, and containing narratives that have been shaped by living communities over centuries. Some might look at the origins with special interest and admiration, but those origins are but a part of the genetic make-up of what is an evolutionary whole that stretches from origins (whatever these are) to current living and practising communities; each generation leaving its mark. The advent of print has a special significance: The first is what most people see, the disappearance of the manuscript, with the rapid loss of the ability to make it. The second, less obvious, is the standardisation of the text. The manuscript tradition is fluid – the text is not quite fixed. This is strange to us now who are used to text being fixed to single authorship, an, in turn, authorship rights. But, we too, were cultures and civilisations that were once textually fluid. It is with considerable reverence that we look back at the scholarly printers who collated manuscripts and produced the standard versions we still use today. The 16th century Bomberg edition of the Talmud is an example; as is the Tyndale Bible for that matter. Here I want to introduce you to THE printer and his scholar. Anonymous in the revolution they have been bringing about. Printer and traditional scholar at ease in and equally part of the manuscript culture, as they are the link to a world for ever transformed. Not a missing link- but, for sure, an invisible one. I hope to take you on a little journey that is as much about sensation as it is about knowledge.